NEWARK– A massive new facility has helped the Worcester County Development Center more than double its ability to help area clients with developmental disabilities.
Formed in 1971, the nonprofit assists adults in Worcester, Wicomico and Somerset counties.
Program Administrator Jack Ferry said WCDC started like many other grass roots organizations – in basements and garages.
“The parents saw that after school was out there was nothing for their children to do, and so they got together and it started with recreational activities and things like that,” he said. “Pretty much across the country any of these organizations that are 40, 50, 60 years old – that’s how they started.”
The original building burned down in 2007. Rebuilt in 2011, the new 34,000 square foot facility serves 65 clients on a daily basis, along with several dozen more that work in the community.
“It was a blessing in disguise because the old building was a 70-year-old school house,” said Ferry. “We’re growing. We have referrals coming in on a daily basis, so now we can provide more opportunities for more people. We’re able to do a lot more than we were in the old facility.”
Money from the county, state, grants and big mortgage, according to Ferry, paid for the facility. Additional funding comes from the Friends of WCDC auxiliary and other nonprofits including the United Way.
Today the center focuses on jobs and job training. WCDC places low-functioning clients in “day-hab” areas that focus on sensory stimulation and recreational activities. Higher functioning clients – the vast majority at the center – perform a range of tasks for dozens of different local businesses.
WCDC processes more than 1,000 pounds of laundry each day for coastal rentals and hotels in Rehoboth Beach and Ocean City, grows plants in an on-site greenhouse, cooks and provides off-site catering, performs lawn care, and repackages and assembles items for Bel-Art Products, Inc. in Pocomoke.
“When somebody comes in – and they can be a self-referral, they can come from the school district, the state can give us a referral, or a family member – we look at their interests, their attitudes, their abilities,” Ferry said. “We show them the different areas and they’ll try them and see which one they like.
“Once we do that then we set up an individual plan for them and set goals for them to achieve,” Ferry continued. “Our three step plan is – say in food service – they first come in and learn the basics of food services and sanitation and preparation and all that other stuff by serving the staff and the clients lunch every day – all the clients get a free lunch. The second step, once they achieve that proficiency, is then they work in our catering program. They still work under our supervision, but they’re serving people in the community. The third step then would be working at the Atlantic Hotel or Fager’s Island or something like that.”
Ferry estimated WCDC placed around 20 clients in outside jobs since the building expanded. Some workers, including those contracted by Bel-Art, are paid piece rates based on the complexity of the job with the Department of Labor providing formulas and oversight.
“Everybody in here except for the people in the day-hab area where we’re doing sensory stimulation is getting paid,” Ferry said. “They’re either paid for doing real work or getting on-the-job training.”
One of the newest endeavors at WCDC is Inner Ocean Soap, a plant-based glycerin soap produced using local seaweed.
“We’re real excited about this,” Ferry said. “We had been looking into doing it for a number of years and we couldn’t find either staff or volunteers with the knowledge to help us get going. Then our business development guy, Ryan McManus, found this business being sold on Craig’s List. We were able to buy the process, some of our people went down for a week and got the training on how to do the process, and they brought it back and taught the clients how to do it.”
Bungalow Love and Sisters in Berlin, Robinson’s Jewelry and Clock in Salisbury, Bungalow Seven in West Ocean City, and Chanceford Hall Bed, Breakfast and Corner Store and Sassy Girl in Snow Hill carry the soap.
Other clients, like Ocean City resident Betty Sturgis, do reception work. Sturgis, who has Cerebral Palsy, has been working with WCDC since 1977.
“I’ve been here ever since,” she said. “I like it here more now because the building is a lot bigger and it’s a lot better. There are a lot more things to do.”
Sturgis said Friday is the best day of the week.
“Everybody gets very excited because that’s when we get paid,” she said. “We get our paycheck and go home and enjoy our two days off before we come back on Monday.”
Ferry said the number of people in Worcester County with developmental disabilities is on the rise.
“It’s a lot more than you’d think,” he said. “It’s going up, and I think a lot of it is just that the detection of it is greater than it ever was.”
Ferry hopes to expand several WCDC programs in the near future, growing fresh lavender for the soap or microgreens for local restaurants in the greenhouse, as well as delving into landscaping. He also hopes to develop more satellite sites.
“We would ultimately like to go more out into the community,” he said. “With our soap I’d like to see us get to a point where we’re able to purchase a building out in the community where we would hire people from to work alongside our clients – not as staff people, but more as an integrated workforce. Same thing with the laundry – that’s getting pretty close to the point where we’re going to have to go out into the community, purchase a building, outfit it, and then we could have clients and people from the community working side-by-side.”
While the nonprofit is enjoying a period of growth and expansion, Ferry said there is a danger that government officials may step in. The Department of Justice is cracking down on facilities like WCDC, labeling them “sheltered workshops.”
“They feel that they hinder the progress of clients rather than help them by keeping them in places like this, and they’re closing them down,” he said. “They would rather just have them doing activities than working, and in my mind that’s a step backwards.
“Our goal is to get them all out of here,” Ferry continued. “I’d love to be able to close the doors because they’re all working alongside us in the community. That’s not going to happen for a lot of our people, so there is a need for places like this and there is a need for clients who can come in and can do productive work. It’s real work.”
Companies like Bel-Art, Ferry said, are not contracting WCDC merely out of the kindness of their hearts.
“They’re doing it because we do a good job for them at a good price,” he said. “Same thing with the linen – our guys can do a good job and that’s why they’re getting the work. They can work under our supervision, but out in the community independently they’re not going to be able to do that. So there is a real need for places like this.”
For more information call 410-632-2382 or visit www.wcdcservices.org.
Formed in 1971, the nonprofit assists adults in Worcester, Wicomico and Somerset counties.
Program Administrator Jack Ferry said WCDC started like many other grass roots organizations – in basements and garages.
“The parents saw that after school was out there was nothing for their children to do, and so they got together and it started with recreational activities and things like that,” he said. “Pretty much across the country any of these organizations that are 40, 50, 60 years old – that’s how they started.”
The original building burned down in 2007. Rebuilt in 2011, the new 34,000 square foot facility serves 65 clients on a daily basis, along with several dozen more that work in the community.
“It was a blessing in disguise because the old building was a 70-year-old school house,” said Ferry. “We’re growing. We have referrals coming in on a daily basis, so now we can provide more opportunities for more people. We’re able to do a lot more than we were in the old facility.”
Money from the county, state, grants and big mortgage, according to Ferry, paid for the facility. Additional funding comes from the Friends of WCDC auxiliary and other nonprofits including the United Way.
Today the center focuses on jobs and job training. WCDC places low-functioning clients in “day-hab” areas that focus on sensory stimulation and recreational activities. Higher functioning clients – the vast majority at the center – perform a range of tasks for dozens of different local businesses.
WCDC processes more than 1,000 pounds of laundry each day for coastal rentals and hotels in Rehoboth Beach and Ocean City, grows plants in an on-site greenhouse, cooks and provides off-site catering, performs lawn care, and repackages and assembles items for Bel-Art Products, Inc. in Pocomoke.
“When somebody comes in – and they can be a self-referral, they can come from the school district, the state can give us a referral, or a family member – we look at their interests, their attitudes, their abilities,” Ferry said. “We show them the different areas and they’ll try them and see which one they like.
“Once we do that then we set up an individual plan for them and set goals for them to achieve,” Ferry continued. “Our three step plan is – say in food service – they first come in and learn the basics of food services and sanitation and preparation and all that other stuff by serving the staff and the clients lunch every day – all the clients get a free lunch. The second step, once they achieve that proficiency, is then they work in our catering program. They still work under our supervision, but they’re serving people in the community. The third step then would be working at the Atlantic Hotel or Fager’s Island or something like that.”
Ferry estimated WCDC placed around 20 clients in outside jobs since the building expanded. Some workers, including those contracted by Bel-Art, are paid piece rates based on the complexity of the job with the Department of Labor providing formulas and oversight.
“Everybody in here except for the people in the day-hab area where we’re doing sensory stimulation is getting paid,” Ferry said. “They’re either paid for doing real work or getting on-the-job training.”
One of the newest endeavors at WCDC is Inner Ocean Soap, a plant-based glycerin soap produced using local seaweed.
“We’re real excited about this,” Ferry said. “We had been looking into doing it for a number of years and we couldn’t find either staff or volunteers with the knowledge to help us get going. Then our business development guy, Ryan McManus, found this business being sold on Craig’s List. We were able to buy the process, some of our people went down for a week and got the training on how to do the process, and they brought it back and taught the clients how to do it.”
Bungalow Love and Sisters in Berlin, Robinson’s Jewelry and Clock in Salisbury, Bungalow Seven in West Ocean City, and Chanceford Hall Bed, Breakfast and Corner Store and Sassy Girl in Snow Hill carry the soap.
Other clients, like Ocean City resident Betty Sturgis, do reception work. Sturgis, who has Cerebral Palsy, has been working with WCDC since 1977.
“I’ve been here ever since,” she said. “I like it here more now because the building is a lot bigger and it’s a lot better. There are a lot more things to do.”
Sturgis said Friday is the best day of the week.
“Everybody gets very excited because that’s when we get paid,” she said. “We get our paycheck and go home and enjoy our two days off before we come back on Monday.”
Ferry said the number of people in Worcester County with developmental disabilities is on the rise.
“It’s a lot more than you’d think,” he said. “It’s going up, and I think a lot of it is just that the detection of it is greater than it ever was.”
Ferry hopes to expand several WCDC programs in the near future, growing fresh lavender for the soap or microgreens for local restaurants in the greenhouse, as well as delving into landscaping. He also hopes to develop more satellite sites.
“We would ultimately like to go more out into the community,” he said. “With our soap I’d like to see us get to a point where we’re able to purchase a building out in the community where we would hire people from to work alongside our clients – not as staff people, but more as an integrated workforce. Same thing with the laundry – that’s getting pretty close to the point where we’re going to have to go out into the community, purchase a building, outfit it, and then we could have clients and people from the community working side-by-side.”
While the nonprofit is enjoying a period of growth and expansion, Ferry said there is a danger that government officials may step in. The Department of Justice is cracking down on facilities like WCDC, labeling them “sheltered workshops.”
“They feel that they hinder the progress of clients rather than help them by keeping them in places like this, and they’re closing them down,” he said. “They would rather just have them doing activities than working, and in my mind that’s a step backwards.
“Our goal is to get them all out of here,” Ferry continued. “I’d love to be able to close the doors because they’re all working alongside us in the community. That’s not going to happen for a lot of our people, so there is a need for places like this and there is a need for clients who can come in and can do productive work. It’s real work.”
Companies like Bel-Art, Ferry said, are not contracting WCDC merely out of the kindness of their hearts.
“They’re doing it because we do a good job for them at a good price,” he said. “Same thing with the linen – our guys can do a good job and that’s why they’re getting the work. They can work under our supervision, but out in the community independently they’re not going to be able to do that. So there is a real need for places like this.”
For more information call 410-632-2382 or visit www.wcdcservices.org.